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Unlocking Focus: Achieving Goals with Discipline and Team Alignment · Business for Humans

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  I'm Jamie Gennaro, business coach and consultant and founder of Practica Consulting.
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  In today's episode, I dive deeper into the theme of focus, which I introduced last week.
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  I share how I'm working toward a specific goal and how I'm breaking it down into actionable tasks.
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  I talk about the importance of staying disciplined, maintaining routines like
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  exercise to avoid burnout and keeping your mind focused on the end goal.
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  I also talk about how to keep your team aligned by setting clear expectations
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  and tracking progress through short, manageable sprints. Enjoy.
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  Hello, everyone. Welcome, welcome.
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  Today is a little bit of a version two of last week.
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  So last week, I introduced this idea of focus and wanting to deep dive on some
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  themes with you and some content so that I'm not just always hopping around
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  in a million different directions.
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  So one thing I talked about last week was this idea of picking a goal that's
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  really nagging at you and then jotting down five tasks that you could do over
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  the next two weeks towards that goal. Well, here we are at week one.
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  And I told you I would let you know what my five things are and what my goal is.
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  And this might help you kind of further hone in your focus.
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  And what I'm going to expound on today day too is not just you keeping focused,
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  but how do you also keep people on your team focused, right?
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  Because if we're working even on a really tiny team or even your household team,
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  if you're all moving towards a goal together,
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  it's important that everyone has some level of momentum, right?
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  We have to keep everybody aligned to that goal.
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  And if you're a business owner, no matter how big or small your team is,
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  you have to keep that vision clear so that you can always be leading people back to it.
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  So that's my job as a coach. When I work with people, we do a long intake session.
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  I define their goals. And then it's my job to keep us laddering back to those
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  goals every time we meet.
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  Because it's really easy to set goals and then to start moving forward and then to kind of,
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  veer off on some side roads. And that's fine as long as you've completed that
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  first cycle of getting through those goals, right? That's the focused part.
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  We don't want to be so scattered and spread out.
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  It's just going to create overwhelm. And it's just going to make us feel like
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  our business is chaotic. It's not focused.
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  And all of that.
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  So I try to choose a goal that felt attainable. And also it's one of those goals that's nagging at me.
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  And you're not going to be surprised if you just listened to last week's episode,
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  you're not going to be surprised that it's really connected to one of the examples I used.
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  So most of the time my examples come from real life.
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  And for me, it's tax season.
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  And although I have my plan all sorted out and I'm not in any kind of scarcity trying to pay my taxes.
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  It's always just a little, it just hurts a little bit. I'm a total fan of taxes
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  and the reason behind taxes.
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  So I'm not questioning taxes or trying to get out of them.
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  I understand the benefit of taxes, but it's just a little bit,
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  it's like one lump sum at a certain point in the year and it just hurts a little
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  bit. It hurts on the cash flow.
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  So my goal that's really been kind of nagging at me, the one thing is that I'd
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  really like to bring in a surplus of about $20,000 in the next six weeks.
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  So to be totally transparent, because I think it's important for us as business
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  owners and for me as your coach, whether you're being coached just through these
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  podcasts or you're being coached by me in real life,
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  it's important to be transparent about money and so that you can kind of understand,
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  am I the right coach for you too?
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  Because if you're looking to make a million dollars, euros, pounds a month,
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  I'm not your coach. I'm not there.
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  And I don't think I'm ever going to be there to be quite honest.
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  I don't think that's the lifestyle I'm looking for in terms of workload and
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  team size and number of clients I would have to support at that level.
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  Right now, I'm bringing in about $20,000 a month.
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  And that's everybody. That's my COO-level clients. That's my private coaching clients.
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  That's my membership that I have. So all up, I'm about $20,000 a month regularly.
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  Of course, it's like up and down. But I would say on average, that's my goal.
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  I mean, that's really... And it's going to shift and it's going to be higher
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  soon. but I think I just, I don't like to set goals that are so much of a reach
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  that it feels just painful.
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  Like it's just one of those goals that you never get to and it doesn't work out.
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  So, so I'm really happy. Like that had been a goal for a while and that's pretty consistent.
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  So now I'm like, okay, so now I'm at 20K a month.
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  What would it take for me to get another 20K, which is basically my workload.
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  I mean, there's so many different ways to look at it, but it could be my workload
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  times two because I'm saying six weeks.
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  So that means I'm doing that work or anticipating that work,
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  which is about double of where I am.
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  One way to look at it, old-fashioned way.
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  Another way to look at it is could I do one thing that would bring in 20K?
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  Like could I do a course, right, where I don't have a lot more work?
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  I'm not meeting with like 10 people over time, but maybe a meeting once a week
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  with a group, right? Is that one thing?
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  I digress. If my goal, if that goal that's nagging at me is make 20K in six
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  weeks, I have to have a list of five things that I think are going to get me there.
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  Things that are going to be high impact items that won't get me spinning into
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  some side road rabbit hole.
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  Things that are going to keep me focused. So let me read you my list.
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  It's actually a little bit longer than five.
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  So teacher gets to cheat the rules a little bit.
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  But I want to explain why certain things are on my list. And you're going to
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  hear the coachy part of me as you hear some of the things that are on my list. Okay.
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  Exercise and morning ritual. Exercise is part of my morning ritual,
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  but those two things are on the list.
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  Reach out to past clients, contact companies, create content.
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  Here I am creating content.
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  Get organized, manage my mind.
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  And get disciplined. And those two are linked.
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  So why these things? Why do I feel like these are the highest impact things?
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  Okay. Exercise and morning ritual. Something I talked about last week too.
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  If I dropped that saying, I only have six weeks. I got to rush.
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  I have to hurry. I got to get these things done. This is my goal.
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  If I'm going to make 20K, I have to run, run, and run.
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  If I do that, I'm going to burn myself out. And by the time that work lands,
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  because I'm in sales mode, right?
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  By the time I have to do the work, I'm going to be too tired to do the work
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  because I stopped taking care of myself.
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  So this is why my list is a little longer than five.
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  But it's really imperative that as I go towards these six weeks and go towards
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  this big goal, that I don't lose that part because that's where I get my energy, right?
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  My morning ritual, my exercise routine, if I drop that, I'm going to lose energy.
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  I'm probably going to lose sleep.
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  I'm going to have extra stress. I'm going to be a pain in the ass to my family.
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  I don't want to go there. And in fact, when I told my husband,
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  like, I'm kind of on a sprint towards the end of the year, I have a lot of work.
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  He was like, I just hope that means you're not going to get all stressed out.
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  So imperative.
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  So now I have some actions also on my list that are the things that are going to move me forward.
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  If I don't do these things, I will not make extra money.
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  Reaching out to past clients and contacting companies. So what does that mean
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  in the scheme of my business?
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  Past clients, I have four years of past clients.
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  So it's always nice, you know, not even in a sales-y way, but just to like check in with them.
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  I love these people, right? We've had really like close relationships because
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  of the work that they're doing.
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  So no matter what, but I just want to reach out to them. It's just a good reminder.
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  And sometimes it's enough for me to just check in with someone and then they're
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  like, oh, so glad you checked in.
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  I've been thinking about you and actually I want to do something new with you.
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  Sometimes I don't even need to sell anything.
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  Sometimes I do because I want them to feel special. So sometimes I'm like,
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  listen, I want to cut you a deal and here's a special discount, things like that.
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  But ultimately, just checking in with them can be enough.
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  So that's one of those kind of momentum, acceleration, action points on my list
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  that I think could be a way to potentially bring in some revenue in the next six weeks.
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  It's also easy because I know these people. So it's not like a big onboarding situation.
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  Sometimes I can just put them right into my monthly maintenance plan.
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  And that's great. Like it's kind of low impact for me. It's easy for them.
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  It's Not, you know, a super high-end...
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  Package in terms of cost. So it's easier when you have relationships with people
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  to find a way to support one another than to be starting completely from scratch
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  trying to convince someone why they should work with you. Past clients.
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  Companies. So I work in this other capacity where I'm a little bit of,
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  I say a little bit because I'm not like a formal, formal fractional COO.
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  I am with one client, but sometimes I just pop in and I'll look at the organizational
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  structure of a company and I'll make recommendations.
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  I'll meet with the team. I'll do an audit.
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  So it's a pretty easy first step in the door for a company to say,
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  we're struggling a little bit.
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  We don't know how to staff up.
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  We don't know if we have the right staff. We need some help just looking at that from the outside.
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  So it's a little bit different than me working with private coaching clients.
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  So that's something I need to do is just reach out to some of the companies
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  I worked with in the past, and then some new companies where I feel like I could be a good fit.
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  And for me, my specific niche on that side is working with creative marketing
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  advertising agencies, because that's my background.
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  So when it comes to operational support, I know the work.
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  I know the team dynamics. I know how to get the work done in the most efficient way.
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  So that's my sweet spot. So I need to go in that direction.
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  Creating content, it just always needs to be on the list. Same thing as exercise.
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  I just can't drop off because that's how new people get to know me.
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  So I need to keep creating content on that list, even if I'm in a new push or
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  in a new like launch cycle, creating content can't drop off.
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  And then I have these three pieces at the bottom, which are get organized,
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  manage my mind, and get disciplined.
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  I feel like they're aligned. They're all sort of related.
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  It's on the list because I can't forget that I have thoughts that will propel
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  me into action or that will slow me down.
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  And I have to remember my coachy side of myself. I have to remember that if
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  I start to go into scarcity or doubt or insecurity or worry or all these places,
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  I need to manage myself through that.
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  I don't want to ignore it. I don't want to sweep it under the rug.
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  I don't want to put a lot of time and energy into those feelings because they're
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  not going to get me the result I want, which is 20,006 weeks.
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  Procrastination is what comes from worry and scarcity and doubt and insecurity.
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  And I don't want to go into that place. So I need to make sure I'm staying disciplined
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  about coaching myself and I'm staying organized.
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  Part of my ability to stay focused is really making lists, priority lists,
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  and keeping things on my calendar and keeping it clean.
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  That's how I stay focused. I don't have a lot of clutter.
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  I don't have a lot of clutter on my calendar either. It's like,
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  I know I have certain pockets of time.
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  I have to prioritize those pockets of time. I have to be efficient.
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  And that's what I need to make sure is still on the list that I'm not forgetting those things.
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  So we're in week one. And I can say I've reached out to, maybe this is like
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  slightly embarrassing, but I'm really busy.
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  But I've reached out to two past clients.
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  I have created content.
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  Of course, there's a sub list to that, but I have like kind of a new process
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  for creating content. I started on that this week. I'm really happy with that.
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  And I was looking to reach out to one company.
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  I did a bunch of research to try to figure out how to get in touch with them
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  and went down a rabbit hole.
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  I also reached out to some people.
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  So not exactly the same list, but I've been reaching out to people who have
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  scheduled calls with me that seemed really interested, but they didn't go the step further.
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  And so I reached out to all those people again, too. So I think in a week,
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  considering that I have a lot of client work right now, it's a busy season for me.
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  I feel really happy with that list.
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  What we don't want to do is beat ourselves up. We want to stay true to this list.
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  We want to do as many things towards that list as we can every week.
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  We have two weeks in this case, but we don't want to use it as a way to beat
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  ourselves up. Like, oh, look at me. See, I'm a failure.
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  I'm still bad at this. Look at me. I can't do anything right.
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  That's not the exercise. The exercise is stay focused on this list.
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  Don't go down rabbit holes. These are your priorities.
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  Stay true to these priorities for two weeks without getting distracted and see
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  where you are at the end of two weeks.
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  Gauge and judge. No different than exercise.
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  If you exercise every day for two weeks, you're going to start to see a change.
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  You're going to start to feel a change.
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  You're not going to feel it after one day, but after two weeks of being consistent
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  and just staying true to yourself and doing what you say you're going to do,
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  you're going to start to see change.
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  Two weeks is a good amount of time to calibrate and see where you are and see
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  what kind of progress you've made and how realistic you are with these things.
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  That's why I kept exercise on there and the managing my mind piece because I
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  don't want to drop those things no matter what.
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  I'm not going to put 25 things on the list. I cheated a little bit and I think
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  I can combine those last three. Maybe it's five or six.
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  We don't want to overburden ourselves with too many of those tasks.
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  So moving into how you keep your team on track, you want to sit down with them
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  the same way you're sitting down with yourself and you want to work on this list together.
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  With them. So all right, we have a combined goal of 20,006 weeks.
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  So how are you as part of my team? What can you do?
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  What are the five steps you can do to help ensure that this happens?
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  So depending on what they carry, maybe they're in client relationships and they can look at all the
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  client relationships and look at where there might be an opportunity to add
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  more value or add more support to that relationship.
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  Maybe they are doing marketing for you.
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  And so they can start to think of different ways to convert your audience into clients, right?
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  How else could they push on that side?
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  So sit down with them and create the list with them. Set an expectation.
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  Let them know like they're not going to get in trouble if we don't get to the 20,000.
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  But all the things, right? We're all in this together. We like to set stretch
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  goals so that we can see what's possible, right?
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  If we're taking action, let's see what's possible rather than like leaning back
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  or not knowing what our goals are.
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  As a leader, it's really helpful if you're defining that goal really clearly
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  with a timeline with your people and very clearly laying out what's for them
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  to take on instead of being vague, right?
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  Like, we're all going to work on this. Okay, everybody go.
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  It's like, no, let's sit down and really clearly define what are your five pieces.
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  Let's see what you can do in two weeks. And it's a little bit like the concept
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  of a sprint. If you've worked in software, it's like a two-week sprint.
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  What can we do in two weeks? We're going to choose these five things and we're
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  going to gauge our progress.
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  So check in with them after week one. Like, how are you feeling?
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  Does it feel like too much on your plate combined with all the other things on your plate?
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  Or does it feel like you're making progress? Do you want to maybe add one more thing, right?
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  So set those expectations really clearly. Set the goals really clearly.
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  But just try doing one at a time in a short sprint.
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  Like what's our goal in six weeks
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  what's our goal in three months try to
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  pare it down so we always have these big
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  dreamy lofty goals but we also need to ground them and so this is a nice way
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  to kind of get it focused on one goal that one that's kind of nagging sit down
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  with your teams define those five things they can do in the next two weeks and
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  then track it and don't get caught
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  up in like, we have trackers and we have spreadsheets and we have this and that.
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  I do like a good spreadsheet for this.
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  I do like listing those five things somewhere and then keeping track.
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  I think it's nice for people to have a place to go and then you're like, cool, complete.
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  Look at that. And then as you move, you're like, oh, five more, five more, five more.
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  Do you like that? But don't get caught up in like, how are we going to set this up?
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  What's the process? What's the plan? What's the software?
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  I think people get too stuck in that and it's really a way to procrastinate.
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  So just make a list on a Word document, make a list in a spreadsheet,
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  make a Google Doc, send an email, whatever it is, keep it really simple,
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  and then keep moving forward.
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  So I'm going to check in again next week. That'll be the end of this like two-week
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  cycle, this two-week sort of focus on focus, and we'll see where we're all at.
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  All right. And feel free to drop me a line too. It's jamieatpractica.consulting.
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  If you're like, hey, I need somebody to hold me accountable.
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  Here's my list. I'd love to hear it.
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  So I am going to leave it at that. Good luck. And I will talk to you next week.
• 20:10
  Is September the time for you to get refocused and re-energized and moving forward
• 20:16
  towards all of your 2024 goals, getting them all accomplished by the end of the quarter,
• 20:22
  it's time for you to sign up for coaching.
• 20:25
  Whether you're ready to launch a business or move into a new position,
• 20:31
  scale a business that you've been running for a while, now's the time to get
• 20:36
  focused on those actions that are going to propel you towards your goals.
• 20:40
  Let's prioritize and make sure that you're you're focused on the right things.
• 20:44
  So if you've been spiraling or spinning around the same patterns and cycles
• 20:51
  for a while, coaching is the thing that can really break you out of those patterns.
• 20:55
  If you're interested, coaching registration is open until mid-September,
• 21:01
  and we're starting new coaching clients the beginning of October for our three-month coaching program.
• 21:08
  So if you're interested, make sure to set up a call on the website site,
• 21:13
  practica.consulting. Go to book a call and reserve your spot now.
• 21:21
  Music.